An Analysis of the Program of the Mexican Liberal Party, 1906

An Analysis of the Program of the Mexican Liberal Party, 1906
Author(s): Charles C. Cumberland
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Americas, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jan., 1948), pp. 294-301
Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
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AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROGRAM OF THE
MEXICAN LIBERAL PARTY, 1906
T
HEMexican nationhas been incessantlyplagued with revolutionary
plans since the "gritoof demoralization"by Guerreroin 1829. The
word "plagued"is used advisedly,for very few of the revolutionary
plans were more than expressionsof personalismo,the bane of Latin-American politics.The immense majorityof these so-called"programs"have had
very little in the way of social and economic reforms embodied in them,
either by word or implication; for the most part they have been political
rather than socio-economicin character.
Early in the twentieth century, however, a small group developed one
of the few socio-economicprogramsto be found in Mexican history. On
July 1, 1906, while the Diaz government was still firmly entrenched,
RicardoFlores Mag6n' and his little group of followers, almost unnoticed
by the majority of the Mexicans, published a program of reform which
at the time was one of the most sweeping ever outlined in Mexico. Announced as the philosophy of the Mexican Liberal Party,2 in it were all
the elements of a vast socio-economicplan for the Mexican nation, with
only a small part of the program dealing with political change. The
Liberalswell realized that curing only the political sore would not heal
the sick nation.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the program of the Mexican
Liberal Party and to indicate, in general terms, the correlation between
this program and the revolution which has developed in Mexico. It
would be extremely difficult to establish, even on a conjectural or hypothetical basis,the thesis that the Constitutionof 1917 and the later political
philosophy were the direct outgrowth of the thinking of the Flores Mag6n
group, but the definite affinityof ideas is easy to see.
The program of the Liberal Party was not a rigid revolutionaryplan,
1 For a short study of the Flores Mag6n movement, see Charles C. Cumberland, "The
Precursors of the Mexican Revolution of 1910," Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol.
XXII, No. 2, May, 1942.
2 Programa del Partido Liberal. The copy used for reference here is one of the printed
originals. It and the accompanying Manifesto a la Nacidn are reprinted in Francisco Naranjo,
Diccionario biogrdfico revolucionario, (Mexico, D. F., 1935), pp. 249-263. Although the
group was never recognized in Mexico as a political party, for the sake of convenience it will
be referred to as such in this paper.
294
CHARLES C. CUMBERLAND
295
even though it did have as one of its primaryobjectives the elimination of
the Diaz regime; it could almost be said that the overthrow of Diaz was
an incidental, though integral, part of the plan. In contrast to the
majority of the previous concrete and objective revolutionary plans, the
Flores Mag6n plan was subjective and general with few concrete examples of the methods to be employed. It was vague in details of action,
but not in philosophy; it was a strong socio-economic platform for the
rehabilitation of Mexico after the long Diaz period. The following discussion will include specific reference to the portions of the program
relative to military and political questions, educational plans and aspirations, agrarian reform, alleviation of labor conditions, reorganizationof
the system of taxation, and the ever-presentChurch-Stateproblem.
On comparing the political and military provisions of the program of
the Mexican LiberalParty with like provisions of almost any other Mexican revolutionary plan, some marked contrasts are at once apparent.
Even though the program was the basis of a later attack on the Mexican
government, there were no provisions of any nature concerning the organization of a revolutionary army. No concrete plans were included
for the government of Mexico after the fall of Diaz, even though the forceful overthrow of the dictatorwas advocated. Far from using any specific
example of illegality on the part of the existing government as a basis for
the attack, Flores Mag6n and his cohorts pointed only to the general
tyranny of the regime, with its consequentdestructionof the political and
economic liberties and well-being of the Mexican people, as justification
for their stand. Flores Mag6n, insisting on the repeal of all laws
passed
during the Diaz regime not in accord with the tenets of his program,
sent out a clarion call for a return to the principles of the Constitution of
1857.
While the LiberalPartywas rather.vagueas to the method for
carrying
out the revolution and for the organization of a government
following
its successfulconclusion, there was nothing vague relative to the
political
philosophy of the group. In addition to insistence with respect to nullifying a large part of the legislation of the Diaz regime, concrete recommendations were made concerning needed legislation
affecting various
political aspects of the government. In view of the oppressive system of
compulsory military service then in force,' the abolition of obligatory
service was considered to be mandatory; a National Guard was to be
substituted for the regular army during times of peace. Laws for the control of press and speech were to be liberalized considerably, making only
3 The armywas augmented,from time to time, by a systemnot differinggreatly from the
English press-gangmethods.
296
PROGRAMOF THE MEXICAN LIBERALPARTY, 1906
libel and blackmail subject to punishment; such cases were to be tried by
civil courts only. Capital punishment was to be applicable only in cases
involving treason. Military tribunalswere to be suppressedduring times
of peace. Laws inflicting severe punishments on public officials who
failed to performtheir duties properlywere to be enacted. The presidential
term was to be reducedto four years,as it had been before the amendment
of the constitution,and all legislative functions were to be taken from the
vice-president. These in general were the constitutionaland legal reforms
advocatedby the Mexican LiberalParty;although they were not extensive,
they showed a greater degree of thought relative to structureof the government than to the means for putting into effect the reforms desired.
With respect to recognition of the foreign commitments made by the
Diaz government after the promulgation of the program, Flores Mag6n
took an untenable position. The Liberal Party served notice that no
foreign monetary commitments made by Diaz after July 1, 1906, would
be recognized as valid by the revolutionarygovernment; foreign governments and individuals were warned that any negotiations carried on
would be done at their own risk.
The Liberal Party was making a bid for support from the masses, and
every element of the progressive must needs be a part of the stated program. As a consequence,the following broad basis for an extensive increase in educational facilities was laid down in the introductoryportion
of the program:
The primaryschoolis the basisof the greatnessof the people;the best
institutionsareof little valueandarein dangerof beinglost if, at theirside,
schoolsin whichare formedthe cititheredo not exist manywell-attended
zens who shouldprotectthoseinstitutionsin the future.4
In addition to the general base quoted above, five specific provisions
concerning education were included. The crying need for additional
educationalservices was to be met by the constructionof a large number
of primaryand elementaryschools; at the same time, education was to be
compulsory for all children up to the age of fourteen years.5 In view of
the general poverty of the lower classes, these provisions would be of
little practicalvalue unless some aid were extended to them; in recognition
of this need it was provided that the government would assist in every
4 En la escuela primaria esta la profunda base de la grandeza de los pueblos, y puede
decirse que las mejores instituciones poco valen y estin en peligro de perderse, si al lado de
ellas no existen multiples y bien atendidas escuelas en que se formen los ciudadanos que en
lo futuro deban velar por esas instituciones." Exposicidn of the Program of the Liberal
Party.
5 No minimum age was given, but evidently it was intended that all children between the
ages of seven and fourteen were to be affected.
CHARLES C. CUMBERLAND
297
way possible all those whose financial condition would preclude their
taking advantageof the educationalfacilities offered.
One of the chief difficultiesencountered in fostering a general educational program in Mexico was the extremely small salaries being paid
the teachers,particularlyin the small rural schools. The teaching profession, because of the humble standard of living of its members, was not
held in particularly high regard in Mexican society; Flores Mag6n believed the elevation of the profession to high respectabilitywas a necessity if the general educationalsystem were to be improved. In order, then,
to attack the problem at the foundation, the salaries of the teachers were
to be raisedconsiderablyso that a decent standardof living could be maintained, and able persons attracted to the profession. The profession,
however, was to pay, in one sense, for this advancement in society; stringent regulations were to be enforced in order to insure that a good teaching job was done and penalties were to be imposed on those members of
the profession who failed in their duties.
Lay educationonly was to be allowed; the schools being maintained by
the Church were to be suppressed." However, in order to forestall
charges by the Church that the educational system of the country was
being prejudicedby the actions of the government, and to insure against
a lag in educationas a result of the suppressionof the clerical schools, the
government was to take over the administrationof the schools immediately
after their suppression.
Compulsory military training and the maintenance of a regular army
during times of peace were foreign to the democraticphilosophy held by
the Liberal Party, as has been mentioned. There was recognition, however, of the need for rudimentarymilitary training as a guarantee against
complete unpreparedness;all schools, both public and private, were to
stress such training for boys. At the same time particularattention was
to be given to proper instruction in civic duties. In general, the entire
educational program was to be conducted along utilitarian lines, with a
greater emphasis on handicrafts,civic duties, and household arts than on
the humanities. In this manner the Liberal Party hoped to raise the
general educationallevel of the masses, particularlyin the field of industrial and civic training, in order to producea people who could make some
real contributionsto the economic and social growth of the nation. Such
a program would lift the mass of the Mexican people from a class of
ignorant and unproductive individuals to an intelligent and contributing
group in the fight for a greaterMexico.
6
The general attitudetowardclericalismis discussedbelow.
298
PROGRAM OF THE MEXICAN LIBERAL PARTY,
1906
With respect to agrarian reform the Liberals were not to be content
with the mere restorationof the land seized during the Diaz regime; their
program called for a general redistributionof the arable lands. Since
this point is one of the rocks upon which the modern revolution almost
foundered, it is interesting to note the ideas of the Liberals. According
to the broad program of the Liberals, the great landowners were to be
allowed to retain the lands which were actually under cultivation, as long
as the wage-hour schedules for the peones conformed to the provisions of
the Liberal program. All the lands not being cultivated to maximum
productivitywere to revert to the government for distributionamong the
landless. This provision would have the effect of either forcing the
landowner to employ men at a fair salary or to turn the excess lands over
to the government for distribution;in any case, in theory the total productivity of the land would be increased and more men would be able
to profit materially from agriculture. At the same time the loss sustained
by the large landholderswould be at a minimum, for only the excess was
to be taken. The land program further provided that the government
would give lands to all the landless who applied, the only condition required being that the new owner would make the land productive and
would keep it in his possession. The maximum amount of land to be
allotted to an individual was to be fixed by law, the general climatic conditions of the area and the fertility of the soil being the principal criteria
in stipulating the acreage to be given. Apparently, it was the belief on
the part of the progenitors of the Liberal Party Program that sufficient
lands would come to the government through the confiscation of idle
lands to care for the demands for property to be made by the landless;
no provision was made, other than that alreadymentioned, by which the
government was to come into possession of lands for distribution.
Lands alone would not solve the basic problem of the landless; the
realization of other needs as well was evident in the Program. Unless
the new owners of the land were provided with the means for obtaining
seed and implements for cultivation, the entire land distribution effort
would be wasted and would cause an ultimate total loss to the nation.
Therefore, some provision was necessaryfor financing the small farmers.
Since the majorityof the group to whom the lands were to be distributed
had insufficientfunds with which to begin working the land, the Liberal
Party advocated the establishment of an Agricultural Bank to advance,
at a low rate of interest, the capital necessary to begin the enterprise.
The need for the restorationof the efidos to the communities was recognized, but no specificprovision for their return was included.
One of the principal aspirationsof the revolution has been the allevia-
CHARLES C. CUMBERLAND
299
tion of the laboring classes. Flores Mag6n and his followers were intensely interested in the labor question and foresaw the need for a solution to the problem. The wages paid in Mexico for work in factories and
on farms were so low that there was insufficientmoney for the working
man to better his condition, either economically or culturally. In many
instances the combined efforts of all the able members of the family
brought in so little income that a state of undernourishment existed,
which in turn made the laborerslistless and apathetic. At the same time
the hours of work were so long that there was no time for cultural
growth, even had there been funds available for such activities. In an
effort to overcome these conditionsthe Liberalsproposeda minimum wage
scale and a maximum hour schedule, applicable to factory and field alike.
The working day was to have a maximum of eight hours, with the wages
depending on the section of the country and the general living conditions.
Under no condition,however, were the wages to be less than a peso a day."
Piece work was to be regulated, with the above wage-hour scale as the
main criterion. The deplorable hygienic conditions and the open machinery made work in many of the factories dangerous,particularlysince
they were coupled with inadequate diet and general lethargy; accidents
and serious illnesses were frequent. In order to prevent
injuries and
disease, insofar as it would be possible, the owners were to be forced to
install safety devices, and the general sanitaryconditions were to be regulated by law; moreover, injured workmen were to be paid an indemnity
by the company.
One serious charge made against the Mexican employers, both for the
factories and farms, was that the workers were paid in part or in toto in
script and that the prices charged at the company stores, where the script
had to be cashed, were considerablyhigher than the
prevailing rate. In
addition, the laborers were frequently fined on some pretext and forced
contributions were often levied. Article 31 of the Program of the
Liberal Party was designed to prevent these practices
by the imposition
of heavy fines on those guilty of engaging in them. For the
protection of
the farm laborers,there were provisions to force the landowner to furnish
sanitary lodgings for his workers and to pay his renters for any improvements made on the land. At the same time, the
factory owner was not
only to be prohibited from employing children under fourteen years of
age, but he was also to be obliged to hire a majority of Mexicans; natives
were to be paid on the same scale and in the same manner as foreigners
engaged in similar work.
7 At the rate of exchangeat that time, a peso was worth approximatelyfifty cents.
Comparedwith the generalwage standardprevailingin the United States,this minimumwas pitifully low.
300
PROGRAM OF THE MEXICAN LIBERAL PARTY,
1906
In the Program of the Liberal Party, then, the policy with labor was
to have been a part of a coordinatedwhole with the land and educational
provisions for the moral, cultural, and economic uplift of the Mexican
masses. Ricardo Flores Mag6n and his adherents could not visualize a
greater Mexico in which a large percentage of the population was in a
condition little better than slavery; to produce a great and happy nation
the active participationof all in the productive and cultural activities was
necessary. The program was not designed to be a hard and fast set of
rules and regulations, but rather a foundation and framework of the
building which was to be completed by activating legislation after
thorough investigation and study.
Taxation was another serious problem, since the tax burden was unevenly distributed;under the head tax, the stamp tax, and the taxes on
articles of necessity, the low income bracket was paying a much greater
share than it was capable of paying. Moreover, the stamp tax was militating against justice to the masses of the people; since all legal documents were subject to the tax, free access to the courts of the land was
denied to those unable to pay.
A strong stand was taken by Flores Mag6n regarding the inequalities
and injusticesbeing perpetratedunder the system of taxation. His group
felt that a host of the more onerous taxes, including the stamp tax, should
be abolished and another system substituted. While he realized that the
sudden abolition of the stamp tax would create grave financial difficulties
in the nation, the leader of the Liberal Party definitely favored steps toward the eventual elimination of the tax. There was to be a shift in
emphasis in the assessment of taxes, with the higher income bracket
being largely responsible for the financial support of the nation as a
whole. This shift in the financial burden would aid the economic rehabilitation of the mass of the population.
The position of the Church in Mexico was a perennial problem, and
the Liberal Program had some definite anti-clericalelements. Religious
establishments were to be considered on the same plane as commercial
houses, subject to taxes and to a strict accountancyin their transactions.
All those Church lands which had been turned over to puppets, to prevent
nationalizationunder the Laws of Reform, were to be confiscatedby the
government. The Laws of Reform were to be enforced strictly and new
laws for penalties of greater severity were to be enacted. As a coup de
grace, all religious schools were to be suppressed and lay education only
was to be allowed in the public schools.
A comparative analysis of the various revolutionary plans of the history
of Mexico shows that, as a political document of interest, the Program
CHARLESC. CUMBERLAND
301
of the Mexican Liberal Party stands high among the very few of lasting
value. The majority of the previous plans had been applicable only to
a given problem and designed for one end; the triumph of a small and
selfish revolutionarygroup. Into them the leaders did not put, if indeed
they had any, ideas concerning the proper means for stabilizing the
Mexican government and society. Into the Programof the Liberal Party,
on the other hand, were woven the combined socio-economicand political
philosophies of Ricardo Flores Mag6n, Hilario C. Salas, Juan Sarabia,
Antonio I. Villarreal, Librado Rivera, and a group of lesser men, nearly
all of whom were young and militant idealists. The adherence to
anarchism professed by some of the leaders, particularlyRicardo Flores
Mag6n, discreditedthe group, but many of their ideas stand up well under
the scrutinyof time.
One is struck, on studying the program of the Liberal Party, by the
number of provisions later included in the Constitution of 1917; it is
difficult to find any part of the program which has not become a part
of the governmental and legal system of Mexico. The provisions of the
constitution concerning land, labor, and religion were more concrete, but
they followed the philosophy and trend of the earlier document. The
system of education inauguratedby the revolution has as the basic element and philosophy those reforms of the national teaching which were
proposed by the Flores Mag6n group. The land distribution program
and the agriculturalbank follow the ideas set forth in 1906. The labor
legislation under the constitutionhas been a great deal like that desiredby
the Liberals,though more far-reachingand comprehensive. The nationalism developed under the Revolution had its counter-partin the Liberal
program;it was franklyand intensely nationalisticin character. Although
not stated in so many words, the currentrunning
through every line seems
to say that Mexico should be for the Mexicans and that the
days of foreign
exploitation were gone.
Although there is little evidence to indicate that the Liberal Party
Program was used as a basis for the present constitution of Mexico, one
could almost see the Constitution of 1917 evolve from the earlier statement of aims by the Liberals. A powerful socio-economicreform
program
of the type badly needed by the Mexican nation, the
published principles
of the party led by Flores Mag6n was an
expression of many of the desires
and aspirationsof the inarticulatemasses.
Though scorned and ridiculed
at the time of its promulgation, much of it is now a living, expanding
expression of the desires of the Mexican nation.
CHARLES C. CUMBERLAND
Princeton University